Another epic Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, and PC) trailer has been revealed by Infinity Ward. The latest footage shows some special ops troops  performing a variety of missions from Russia to Washington, DC. Check it out after the break.

A college student from Cal State Fullerton was arrested by federal agents on Monday by illegally running a home business of modifying Xbox, Playstation, Wii and other video game consoles to enable the machines to play pirated video games.

If you were hoping to play the game based on Heroes, the popular TV series from NBC, then too bad. According to Ubisoft PR director, Jaime Cottini, Peter, Claire, Hiro, and the rest of the gang won't be coming to your gaming platforms anymore. Oh well...

It seems like SCi Entertainment is finally getting into the role of the reluctant "father", ready to give away his daughter (i.e. Lara Croft) at the altar. It was confirmed recently that SCi will be entertaining the possibility of opening a major business investment in the near future to help get the company back on track. You can read a statement released by the company explaining this move in our full article.

Keeping up with the SCi Entertainment takeover bid? Well, if you put money on Time Warner, then this update might make you re-think your wager: it seems that NBC is putting forward big money to be the king of the hill, in terms of being considered as the top buyer. Just how big, you ask? Try a hundred million greenbacks. Enough money to choke a mammal of colossal proportions. Check out the details in the full article.

A lot of people have split opinions on the effectiveness of in-game advertising. However, Sony's chief executive Howard Stern expressed his doubts on the potential of that particular marketing trend. He wasn't alone in the idea either; other big names from major companies such as NBC Universal and Activision Blizzard voiced similar sentiments.

For more details, check out the full article after the jump!

If you fancy some off-topic humor for some easy viewing over the weekend, here's something to tune into: Late Night with Conan O'Brien and their recent segment with Rock Band.

Turns out that the WGA strike had left them with a lot of free time on their hands... Which makes us think that, yeah, video games really are benefiting from the writers' strike.

We here at QJ always thought the show "Heroes" would make for an interesting gaming experience. Imagine our surprise when we found out that it was actually going to come true.

You read that right folks. Ubisoft and NBC Universal have announced that they will be working together to develop and publish a video game based on the hit television show.

Said Christian Salomon, vice president of worldwide licensing at Ubisoft, about the arrangement,

With a gripping storyline and rich characters, 'Heroes' lends itself naturally to a video game format. By offering people the chance to interact directly with the show's captivating universe, there is no doubt that the game will appeal to both fans of the series and avid gamers.

There's no word yet on what platforms the game will be headed to, but there's a good chance that such a game will be multi-platform and definitely worth checking out.

In related "Heroes" news, you'll also be glad to note that the future holds a free "Heroes" pilot episode download on the Xbox 360. There's also no word yet on when that'll happen, but you can expect to be sooner rather than later.

 

Another impending game release, another Jack Thompson e-mail. Game Almighty reports that the lawyer who has agreed not to sue Take-Two Interactive has supposedly sent an e-mail to Microsoft (addressed to Bill Gates). The e-mail states Thompson's problems with the impending release of Bungie Software's (currently in Beta) Halo 3. Game Almighty claims that the e-mail reads as such:

Bill Gates
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Washington

Re: Halo 3
Dear Mr. Gates:

As you know, the Federal Trade Commission has repeatedly found that games rated "Mature" by the video game industry-captured Entertainment Software Rating Board are routinely sold to kids under the age of 17 despite the age rating. The most recent failure rate of the ratings on "Mature" games, according to the FTC, is 42%. The entire rating system is a fraud, and "broken," the latter description aptly provided by Senator Hillary Clinton.

As you also know, Lee Boyd Malvo trained on Microsoft’s Halo to further enable him to become the remarkably efficient "DC Beltway Sniper." That was reported by NBC News at the time and was noted in Malvo’s criminal trial.

You appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes II and rather revealing and usefully noted that "the cool thing about these games is that they transport you to a world you think is real." Precisely. Capcom has recently disclosed to investors that your video game industry’s violent games, sold to children, pose a real hazard to the health of the industry. Right on.

The hyperviolent Microsoft Xbox 360 game Halo 3 is scheduled by your company for commercial release in September of this year. The Beta version that was released last week shows us all just how violent the game is and how inappropriate it is for play by anyone under 17, as the "Mature" rating it will surely receive indicates.

Here’s the deal, Mr. Gates: Either Microsoft undertakes dramatic, real steps, through its marketing, wholesale, and retail operations to assure that Halo 3 is not sold, via the Internet and in stores, directly to anyone under 17, or I shall proceed to make sure that Microsoft is held to that standard by appropriate legal means. I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers of Halo 3.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Basically, Jack Thompson feels that Halo 3 is a game that's inappropriate for play by anyone under 17, and he's holding Microsoft responsible for the game being played by an underage person. Take this as you will.

Jack Thompson and Dr. Phil have obviously found an ally in the person of NBC's Meet the Press">Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press" talk show. In the show's episode yesterday, Russert pointedly suggested that the Virginia Tech massacre could have been an offshoot of the growing violent video games culture.

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, a guest in the show, gamely (no pun intended) asserted that "we do have evidence that children... exposed to violent television and video games, that that certainly does net out in more violent behavior." As to what those evidences are, she never really did expound on.

But Russert wasn't content with merely getting a nod from Secretary Spellings. He then turns to Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and asks, "Any thought of looking into video games and the impact they may have on young children?" While certainly not being impressionable, Leavitt also wasn't exactly forthcoming, stating that "we have to look at a lot of things."

And this might actually be the better answer between the two guests. After all, it's rather foolhardy to outright believe that video games are indeed responsible for the macabre act Cho Seung-Hui launched against his schoolmates. In fact, the so-called "Counter-Strike theory" is just as good as stale meat on a shiny silver plate. The policemen have already searched through Cho's room in campus, and they have yet to find any evidence that he was a video game player, much more, of violent ones at that. Even if they did, this will do little in tangibly proving that it was the "Counter-Strike demons" in Cho's head that prodded him to carry out his deadly deed.

At the end of the day, while the rest of the nation is busy looking under rocks trying to find off-tangential answers to questions that are shaking up our system, and while there are some who are spectacularly trying to spin their blame-game, there remains 33 families waiting for justice and mourning for the loss of their loved ones who will never be coming home.